The Gibbs Lady Eagles gave the Forrest Lady Rockets a good battle before the Class 2A defending state champions from Chapel Hill pulled away for a 10-2 win in a Spring Fling winner’s bracket final Wednesday night in Murfreesboro.

“We felt pretty confident coming in to this game, but you can always drop the ball,” Forrest coach Shelby Lightfoot said. “I like the way we got on it early and I told them one or two more runs were on me, I got a little too aggressive in that spot, but that is just kind of the nature of it and I will learn from it and not do it again.”

“I liked the intensity from the start, sometimes we may be cold for an inning or two, but we always come back hot.”

Forrest (29-3-1) broke out the entire package of offense, defense, speed on the base paths, and stellar pitching in the second round win.

The Lady Rockets had 14 hits on offense, including 3-for-4 ballgames from seniors Jenna Blanton and Laura Mealer, plus a 2-for-3 effort by senior third-sacker Karley Daughrity.

Mealer had a pair of doubles, knocked in four runs, scored twice, and the MTSU signee accentuated the win with an exciting steal of home in the five-run, knockout seventh inning.

Blanton’s speed and skill in the batter’s box and on the base paths is a nightmare for opposing defenses and it was once again as the University of Kentucky signee scored all three times she reached base.

Karley Daughrity continues to swing a red-hot stick as the Martin Methodist signee drove in one run and scored one while making a huge diving catch on a pop-up in front of home plate.

Walters State Community College is getting the best Class 2A pitcher of the tournament as Ashley Milligan turned in another gem in the circle, giving up just two runs on three hits while striking out eight and walking two Gibbs’ batters.

“They put the bat on the ball a little better than the other team (Covington), maybe the one (HR) was on her,” Forrest coach Shelby Lightfoot said. “We preach all the time that the 1-2-3-4 are the best hitters, that is just the nature of the game and we did not do a good job of getting them out in the first inning.”

And let’s not forget Motlow State signee Katelyn Helmick, who has been as solid as a rock all season on defense at the first base bag and with the bat, crushing a solo home run in the top of the fourth inning that gave Forrest a comfortable 5-1 lead.

The sophomores also shined as center fielder Macyn Kirby had another big game for the Lady Rockets with a pair of hits and an RBI and second baseman Briley Burnham sparkled on defense Wednesday night as did their classmate, catcher Parker Wales, who was a brick wall behind the plate and made an incredible diving catch on a foul ball in the second inning.

The freshmen class came up huge again as Maggie Daughrity had two hits and scored twice while left fielder Abby Ferguson made a diving catch in the fourth inning to kill some Gibbs’ momentum and her freshman classmate, Christa Warren delivered a pinch-hit single to start the five-run, seventh inning rally.

Blanton led off the contest with a base hit and stole second before coming home on the first of the two Mealer doubles, but Gibbs answered in the home half of the inning when Shelby Blake led off with a triple and came home with the tying run on a sacrifice fly by Dakota Large.

Forrest did not score in the second inning and in the home half of the stanza, Milligan walked her only two batters of the game, but Gibbs did not score as Wales and Karley Daughrity snuffed out the scoring opportunity with a pair of great diving catches on pop-ups.

Mealer delivered a two-run double in the top of the third inning and Milligan knocked in Mealer on a hot shot that the Gibbs shortstop could not handle to make it 4-1.

Blake led off with a base hit for Gibbs in the home half of the inning, but Milligan retired the next three batters in order.

Helmick sent a 3-2 pitch soaring over the center field fence to lead off the fifth inning to make it 5-1 and Gibbs came up with a one-out solo home run by Addison Merritt in the home half of the inning before Ferguson made her circus catch in left field and Milligan struck out the next batter to end the stanza.

There was no scoring in the next two innings as Milligan set down Gibbs 1-2-3 in both frames and in the top of the seventh, the Lady Rockets piled on, scoring five runs on six singles and a sacrifice fly.

Warren singled to right to start the rally and Maggie Daughrity slapped a base hit to left field.

Both runners moved up on a wild pitch before Blanton laid down a perfect spinner to load the bases for Mealer, who laced an RBI base hit to left field.

Karley Daughrity made it 7-1 with an RBI single to left and Milligan helped herself out with a sac fly RBI.

Mealer went to third on the play and when Gibbs fell asleep, Mealer took off for home and scored easily to make it a 9-2 contest.

Kirby finished up the onslaught with an RBI base hit and in the bottom of the seventh inning, Milligan was as strong as ever, retiring the side in order to send the Lady Rockets to tonight’s winner’s bracket final at 5:30 p.m. versus Lexington (35-9-1), who beat Red Bank 6-1.

The recent history between the two ball clubs is intense and heated as Forrest beat Lexington twice in 2019 and once earlier this season.

The Lady Rockets beat Lexington 3-2 in the winner’s bracket final and 3-1 in the state title game in 2019 and they came up with a 1-0 win over the Lady Tigers at the Summertown Classic on March 20 when Milligan tossed a two-hit shutout and Karley Daughrity’s RBI single stood up.

“Going in to the next game, it’s going to be a better team, I don’t mean any disrespect for Gibbs, but we kind of knew what they had,” Lightfoot said. “We do know Lexington, they have a great team and that will be a hard game for us, they have gotten a whole lot better.”

“They are a solid team and we will have to bring our best game tomorrow.”

Forrest 103 100 5-10 14 0

Gibbs 100 100 0-2 3 1

Forrest: Jenna Blanton 3-for-4, Laura Mealer 3-for-4, Karley Daughrity 2-for-3, Macyn Kirby 2-for-3, Maggie Daughrity 2-for-3, Katelyn Helmick 1-for-3, Christa Warren 1-for-1.

RS: Blanton 3, Mealer 2, Maggie Daughrity 2, Karley Daughrity, Helmick, Warren.

ROE: Ashley Milligan.

2B: Mealer 2, Kirby.

HR: Helmick.

RBI: Mealer 4, Milligan 2, Karley Daughrity, Helmick, Kirby.

SF: Milligan.

HBP: Helmick.

GIDP: Carli Warner.

SB: Blanton, Mealer.

Team LOB: 3

WP: Ashley Milligan (7IP, 3H, 2R, 2ER, 8K, 2BB).

Gibbs: Shelby Blake 2-for-3, Addison Merritt 1-for-3.

BB: Emma Keck, Madison Watts.

RS: Blake, Merritt.

3B: Blake.

HR: Merritt.

RBI: Merritt, Dakota Large.

SF: Large.

SB: Keck.

Team LOB: 3

Fielding

DP: Gracie Palmer 2, Keck.

LP: Abbie Buckner (7IP, 14H, 10R, 9ER, 0K, 0BB).